Four Prairie Central Hawks and two Pontiac Indians advanced to the semifinal round of their respective weight classes in sectional wrestling Friday night.

Five other wrestlers are still competing but have a tough road to travel through the wrestlebacks.

Information on Dwight’s wrestlers at the Plano Sectional was not known by deadline.

Olympia Sectional

The good news for the Hawks at the Class 1A Olympia Sectional was having four reach the semifinals. The bad news is that four are now in the dungeon known as the wrestleback.

At least they have a chance to compete, the worst news was to Cody Parks. The 220-pounder had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury.

Evan Bahler moved into the semifinal at 145 pounds as he makes his push to returning to Champaign. Bahler claimed a 13-4 major decision over Les Trotter of Clinton in the quarterfinal round. He will next face Omar Delgado of Kewanee. A win secures a return to the state finals.

Ben Traub is also one win away from claiming a spot in the 138-pound field at state. Traub is in the semifinals after defeating Triston Ballinger of Olympia 7-0 in the first round and sticking Austin Wilson of Peoria Heights at 1:05 in the quarterfinals.

Traub will meet Gage Stephens of Quincy Notre Dame in the semifinals.

Paul Garcia will take on Mark Breedlove of Kewanee in the semifinals at 132 pounds. Garcia claimed a 6-1 decision over George Ford of PORTA in the quarterfinals.

John Kupferschmid was the fourth Hawk to land in the semifinals after defeating Jake Vahlkamp of Notre Dame by fall in 1:29. His opponent at 182 pounds is Logan Millizer of Monmouth-Roseville.

Brett Bennett was the only other PC wrestler to win his first bout. Bennett pinned Gavin Edwards of Heyworth in 1:37 at heavyweight.

Bennett lost by fall in the quarterfinals to Brenden Jostes of Farmington and will take on Hunter Leach of Illini Bluffs in the wrestlebacks.

Alex Rhoda lost 7-3 to Tristun Reeves of El Paso-Gridley in the 195-pound quarters. He will meet Conrad Powell of Paxton-Buckley-Loda in the wrestlebacks.

Jake Adams lost by fall in the first round to Cole Hutson of EPG. Adams will take on Larryn Kukla of PORTA in the 160-pound wrestlebacks.

Sam Schuler lost a 6-4 decision to Blake Schutte of QND in the 152-pound first round. Schutte made it to the semifinals and Schuler will face Cole Lennington of Tremont in the wrestlebacks.

Page 2 of 2 - Rochelle Sectional

Pontiac head coach Corey Christenson said Friday’s wrestling was rather peculiar. Some of the strangeness was for the good and some was not.

On the bright side, 145-pound freshman Vaughn Hobart reached the semifinal round after winning two times. He claimed a 10-4 win over Scott Bousek of Peoria Notre Dame in the first round. He then defeated Josiah Cropp of Geneseo in the quarterfinals.

Hobart will take on Dan Goress of Kaneland in the semifinals.

Stephen Richardson won his first bout by fall when he stuck Ryan Barelli of Rockford Boylan. The bad news is that Richardson suffered a knee injury and might be questionable for his 132-pound semifinal bout against Randy Meneweather of Washington.

The hard-luck story took place at 160 pounds and created more work for Alex Friedman. Coming is the third-ranked 160-pounder in the state and sporting a 38-1 record, Friedman was looking like a serious lock for the title round.

But he lost in the quarterfinals to Ryan Pitra of Geneseo in a match that involved questionable calls, according to Christenson.

Friedman was on the offensive all match, Christenson said, while Pitra avoided confrontation. Pitra had enough offense to win 6-3, with half his points coming on two of the “questionable” calls by the official, Christenson noted.

Friedman will now have go through the rigors of the wrestlebacks and will not get a bye at state should he qualify. He will face Trevor Albert of Morris next and has to win four times to place third.